“May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, so that I will not be ashamed.” Psalm 119:80 Life Without Shame Blameless – Shame destroys. It is far more crippling than guilt. If I am guilty, I can repay. If I am guilty, I can repent. If I am guilty, I can recover. But shame is…
“Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; for the LORD speaks” Isaiah 1:2 Giving An Ear to God Hear – When Isaiah uttered this phrase, “Hear O earth”, he used the Hebrew verb ‘azan. For the people who listened, the allusion would have been obvious. It’s the same phrase found at the beginning of the…
“Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; for the LORD speaks” Isaiah 1:2 The Ears of the Universe Listen – English fails us. We need to read more than just “listen”. We are to hear the sound of the voice of God echoing through the ages, right back to the beginning of creation. “Hear, O…
“But you have not obeyed Me; what is this that you have done?” Judges 2:2 Listen Obeyed – You wouldn’t know the awesome implication of this word unless you read it in Hebrew. It is shama, the verb that means, “to listen”. While it certainly includes the idea of obedience, it is the powerful history…
“But you have not obeyed Me; what is this that you have done?” Judges 2:2 Just a Little Change Obeyed – Victory, victory, victory. When the book of Judges opens, Israel’s army seems unstoppable. But something accompanies the triumph that sets the stage for terrible consequences. The Angel of the Lord appears before Israel and…
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3:16 God’s School Training – The root behind this word is paideuo, a word that means “instruction and spiritual education of a child”. Of course, since we are all God’s children, the word applies to…
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3:16 Why We Read The Words Profitable – What is the purpose of exercise? Why do you go through the endurance of running, the pain of weight lifting or the disciple of working out? It’s…
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3:16 God Breathed Language Inspired – Our translation “inspired” comes from the Latin Bible, not the Greek New Testament. In the Greek New Testament, the word is theopneustos, literally “God breathed”. What does that mean? …
“I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me” Psalm 119:75 Amen to that Faithfulness – Every day I receive prayer requests for health related issues. Most of these are pleas for recovery or safety from cancer. I never know exactly what to pray when I take…
“The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces” Psalm 119:72 Money Rules Better – Why is God’s word better than vast amounts of money? More importantly, why is it personally better, better to me? Aren’t we often confronted with the challenge that religious fervor may be good…
